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Iowa BIG Hosts Open House at Boyson Location

Last night (Wednesday, Nov. 8th), Iowa BIG hosted an open house at the Boyson Road location. The event was a BIG success with close to 200 people attending.

Representatives from the school board were in attendance in addition to Linn-Mar’s superintendent and several other administration officials and teachers.

Everyone who attended was able to learn more about the initiative-based program Iowa BIG. Parents of current and prospective students were also in attendance. Additionally, there were community partners who currently work with Iowa BIG and some prospective partners as well.

Kerndt Bank, which is in the lower level of the building, even brought a huge plant with a sign on it that said “Welcome to the Neighborhood.”

“Everyone loved the scrum boards,” said Iowa BIG teacher Liz Sheka. The boards are “the physical evidence of work being done.” During the open house, the boards served as conversation starters with the students. “People loved the atmosphere and the whole concept of community project-based learning and what it offers students beyond the classroom,” she added.Iowa BIG is presented a check for $8000 by the Linn-Mar Foundation

Everyone really enjoyed our community win tree, where we put up leaf stickies highlighting community engagement successes on the part of students, she stated. “Everyone loved talking to the students about their work and seeing the enthusiasm for school in this learner-centered approach.” She added. “We had nearly twenty students who spent two hours here engaged with all of the visitors.”

According to Sheka, the event was a huge success. The event was highlighted with an $8,000 donation from the Linn-Mar Foundation!